Clay Aiken thinks Obamacare could be better

By Tom Howell Jr. -
The Washington Times -
Thursday, February 27, 2014

Clay Aiken, the former “American Idol” runner-up who’s gunning for a congressional seat in North Carolina, says the new health care law is rocky in places and should have done more to address health care costs, according to the News & Observer in Raleigh.

The newspaper reports that Mr. Aiken, a Democrat, weighed in on Obamacare as he filed papers to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat held by Rep. Renee Ellmers, a Republican.

“I don’t think that it’s completely perfect,” he was quoted as saying. “I think there are a whole bunch of things that should be fixed and rough edges that should be smoothed out. I think that’s a problem that Democrats in general have, an inability to recognize the fact that a lot of people do have problems with that particular law.”

“That said,” he added, “the number of things that are positive about the law, we don’t talk about enough.”

Many Democrats, particularly Senate incumbents up for reelection in solidly red or right-leaning states, are walking a political tightrope when it comes to President Obama’s signature health overhaul.

They’ve been forced to tout its benefits for low-income Americans, some of whom gained health coverage for the first time, while acknowledging reports of people who lost bare-bones coverage or saw their premiums rise.